Canadian actor Stewart McLean’s weeklong disappearance is now being investigated as a homicide after police said a body was found. Friends, colleagues and family began posting tributes on social media on Saturday, as the news spread through the small circle of people who had worked with him for years.
Jeff Seymour, a director-writer who recently had McLean act in a project he wrote, said he realized something was badly wrong when McLean did not show up for a scheduled filming commitment last week. Seymour said McLean was meticulous about everything and incredibly situationally aware, adding that there was no chance he would simply blow off work or oversleep. “As soon as I heard he didn’t make it, I knew there was big trouble,” Seymour said, saying he could not understand how anyone could get the drop on Stewart.
Seymour remembered McLean as a talented and well-liked man who had visited him recently to work on the project. He said the actor was thoughtful, intelligent, well read and a strong storyteller. On the day before McLean headed back to Vancouver, Seymour said they drove along Mulholland Drive and listened as he sang along to songs from the 60s and 70s, sounding as if he knew the lyrics to everything. “Everybody loved this guy,” Seymour said, describing him as more of a loner who preferred reading and spending time at home.
The reaction from people who knew him best reflected how wide McLean’s circle ran through the industry. Ryan Minaker, who said he worked with McLean on the web series Cloud Van Tales, wrote that they were saying goodbye to Stew McLean and said he had been taken from them far too young and in such a heinous way. Minaker also called him a rockstar and said that for the last decade McLean had been a constant example of raw talent, stealing the show in every project while remaining professional, humble and approachable.
Jennifer Lee and Derek Nordick of Lucas Talent Inc. said they had worked with McLean since 2014 and called him a beloved member of the Lucas Talent family. They said he embraced any chance to work on set, in any capacity, and that his credits ranged from PA and background work to actor roles, weekend independent productions and big-budget streaming projects. Seymour and Minaker both described him as talented and well-liked, a reputation that helps explain why the loss has landed so hard among the people who knew him.
McLean was known for work on Virgin River and Murder In A Small Town, two credits that added to his profile over the last decade. But the current focus is no longer on his career. The body discovery has turned a disappearance into a homicide investigation, and the next development that matters is what Canadian law enforcement says it has found and whether charges follow from that finding.
